\u201cRoadrunner,\u201d The Modern Lovers’ 1972 proto-punk ode to driving around Massachusetts late at night listening to rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, could\u2014and should!\u2014become the \u201cOfficial Rock Song of the Commonwealth\u201d after a state representative has submitted a bill proposing it\u2014for the third time.<\/p>\n
A hearing on bill H.1683<\/a> is scheduled for a hearing on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 30, at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. I submit this as my official endorsement of the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in love with Massachusetts \/ And the neon when it\u2019s cold outside \/ And the highway when it\u2019s late at night \/ Got the radio on \/ I\u2019m like the roadrunner,\u201d Modern Lovers frontman Jonathan Richman sings in \u201cRoadrunner.\u201d It\u2019s a song by a Massachusetts native about that exhilarating, ineffable, bittersweet feeling of driving around Route 128 late at night. \u201cDon\u2019t feel so alone, got the radio on.\u201d<\/p>\n Richman has always been a sweet, funny, perceptive troubadour, penning whimsical songs suffused with witty adventures and starry-eyed doo-wop romance. With The Modern Lovers, he gave all that an electric charge by implanting it at the heart of a Velvet Underground-inspired band. Which broke up before the album was even released.<\/p>\n \u201cRoadrunner captures the essence of growing up in suburban Boston in the 1960s and \u201870s,\u201d says State Rep. David Linsky, a Democrat from Natick, where Richman also grew up, who has submitted the bill to the state Legislature for the third time. \u201c\u2026For those of us who understand the importance and significance of Jonathan Richman, they should immediately call, email or write their own Massachusetts state representative and state senator, as well as the chairman and chairwoman of the Joint Committee on State Administration, Rep. Jennifer Benson and Sen. Walter Timilty<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s LONG past time we got this one done,\u201d Joyce Linehan\u2014a prominent arts publicist, political operator and now chief of policy and planning for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh\u2014wrote last week on Facebook encouraging people to testify in favor of the bill at Tuesday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n